The differential diagnosis of hematemesis and melena includes many diseases of the entire gastrointestinal tract. One of the more unusual sources of such hemorrhage is diverticula of the jejunum.

The first description of diverticula of the jejunum was made in 1844 by Cooper.6 The patient was about 50 years old and had died of other causes. When the autopsy was done, numerous pouches were found in the greater part of the jejunum, situated chiefly between the layers of the mesentery.

The incidence of diverticulosis of the jejunum is low. Gordinier and Sampson11 described a patient with partial intestinal obstruction due to diverticulitis occurring in a pouch located in the upper ileum or the lower jejunum. The authors collected the reports of 14,068 autopsies and found acquired diverticula of the small intestine in 16. Case5 reported 5 such instances in 6847 patients in whom complete barium meal studies,